Dan Trigg and Chile Point
By Steve T. Trigg 2021
I never met my great uncle, Dan C. Trigg. Although he was our closest neighbor, Dad and my grandmother, Nana, never spoke of him except in short generally negative terms so I have only pieces of him in my memory.
Dans headquarters is a short distance from the main road to Logan and the outside world. We travel it often. It was at a sharp turn and we call it Dan’s turn off. As far as I knew, that was about as close as anyone ever got to Dan, except one time, when I was a kid of probably seven or so.
I was with Dad on our way back from a trip to Logan and Tucumcari. Coming around a bend, we could see several men working on a cattle guard at the top of a rise. Dan was standing to the right leaning on his shovel handle as two of his hands shoveled out the blow sand from below the grate.
Dad slowed to a crawl and carefully nudged his 30-30 forward from under the seat. As we drove through the gate next to the cattle guard, Dan did not shift at all and Dad kept his eyes focused ahead. Neither men’s eyes met.
I think Dad was always armed when he drove to Logan when Dan was alive.
That was the only time I ever saw Dan.